Clueless
by flyaway6
Summary: Daine is beautiful. And Numair is... clueless? DN
1. Introduction

_Disclaimer: Tortall doesn't belong to moi, kk?_

_I know this is short, but all my introductory chaps are. Also, in this story, Numair is only 24 and Alanna was never a knight, but is still married to George. Don't ask me how it happened, it just DID._

The Court of Tortall was not an especially large one, nor extravagantly populated one. No, Tortall was a simple, sound country and therefore- only needed a simple court.  
Not to say, of course, that this court was any less gossipy or mischevious than the other countries. In fact a good many have bet on the Tortallian Court to be the most surprising and sly Court of them all. And a good many have won quite a few crowns.  
However, my story is not about the Court in general, neither is it about those who were most mischevious. Instead, it focuses around a sensible court lady named Verildaine Sarrasri and a book loving mage named Numair Samalin. And what takes place around them, about them and between them.  
-  
Daine gently set her comb down on the top of her dresser, making sure not to break off any of the silver enamal that was painted onto it. She dipped her finger into a small plate that held and very small amount of kohl, and proceded to put it on her eyelids.  
Just then, her friend, Lady Alanna came in. Then again, 'just then', is usually used when something surprising happened and there was nothing at all extrodinary about Alanna coming to check on Daine, as they were good friends.  
"Daine, I hear there's a new man coming to Court tonight." Alanna slid right up beside Daine and winked at her in the mirror.  
"Ah yes. Pesky things, are they not?" Daine emotionlessly flicked some kohl at Alanna.  
"I wouldn't say this one is. He's quite a looker, they say"  
"Alanna, honestly, your already married"  
"Not for me darling, for you. You really need to settle down some day. Soon you'll be an old maid of nineteen"  
"Of nineteen"  
"Yes, haven't you heard? The new fashion is to marry foriegn prince's at age fifthteen." Alanna raised an eyebrow and Daine laughed.  
"Ah yes. I wonder how Kalasin is doing though. I would hate to marry someone so notoriously handsome, kind and rich." "Wouldn't it be a hardship. At least she can buy as much chocolate as she wants to tide her over"  
"Chocolate. Now that's a good thing to fall into. Scratch love." "Those words would only come from the mouth of someone who hasn't experienced love"  
"What a romantic you are. And I thought you had some common sense." Daine took the shallow plate and dumped the remaining kohl into a disposal basket.  
"Common sense? My husbands got enough of that to last me for a life time"  
"Marrying a former theif probably was a good move for you then"  
"I would say so"  
"Oh?" Daine slid onto her bed, making a face at her skirts.  
"Yes. I think you would need someone who wasn't resonable. Like mage. A mage who loves books and theories"  
"Hm. Yes, that might work. I like the sound of an all powerful mage"  
"Like Numair Samalin?" Alanna laughed at Daine's face when realization dawned upon it and rushed out the door.  
-  
Daine rested against the wall idily, gazing at the coming and goings of the Court. Idily, because she did not in any way, shape or form like social gatherings.  
Apparently the new mage didn't either. Diane saw he was tugging at the collar of his robes while being introduced to Commander Buri and the Horse Mistress Onua.  
Of course, Alanna saw Daine looking at Numair and spoke up.  
"Pesky thing, isn't he?" She asked Daine, smirking.  
"I wouldn't know." Daine answered nuetrally.  
"Why don't you go find out? In fact, I think it would be hilarious if he takes a liking to you. I'll give you ten gold nobles if he does." "Why not?" Daine sensed an oportunity to buy that bracelet she had been eyeing, and anyways, she was bored enough.  
She worked her way through the crowd to where the mage stood. When she got there, she curtsied low.  
"Hello. May I ask your name?" He said, obviously out of routine.  
"Verilidaine, please though, call me Daine." She looked through her thick lashes at him, eyes half closed.  
"Pleasure, Daine. Numair Samalin." He kissed her hand lightly.  
"Charmed." Daine also said out of routine.  
There was a short silence, where Daine just stood there before Numair cleared his throat. "If you don't mind"  
"I have to go." Daine finished for him, nodded and headed back to Alanna, cheeks a rather nice shade of pink.  
"That went well, didn't it?" Alanna asked and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. You only talked to the man once so far"  
"Why should I care?" Daine asked dismissively and waved Alanna off. "I'm going to my rooms. I feel rather ill"  
Alanna shook her head in amusement, seeing Daine had resorted to the time old 'ill' excuse. She rather thought that this could be interesting.

**Review and tell me me whether I should continue it or if I'm helpless at writing fics, mmmk?**


	2. Stephan

_Disclaimer: I don't own it, mmmmk?_

_Sorry for any mistakes... I'm writing this on wordpad, which doesn't have a spellcheck. But I hope there aren't too many errors. _

_Also, the length of the chapters. Yup, there gonna stay short. Why? Because I usually get stuck on the last 100 words when I write long updates. And then I never __update again._

_Also.. hehe. Yea, I hope I'll update sooner then last time. But knowing me, there's a big chance it's not gonna happen. Sorry._

Daine was riding her gray horse, Cloud, when the afor mentioned Numair came along.

"Good morning." Daine called out to him.

"Good morning." He replied in return. "Would you happen to know where I might find Stephan? I've been told he's the hostler.

"You've been told right." Daine crinkled her nose in amusement when she saw the man was only barely managing to stay on his horse. "He should be at the stables about now, checking to see the pages take care of their horses properly."

"Thank you." Numair nodded at her and then glared at his horse, which was refusing to stay still. "Good day."

"Good day." Daine waved and urged Cloud into a trot. "Rather strange, don't you think?"

Cloud snorted.

---

Later, when she was finished exercising Cloud, Daine walked in to the mess hall and slipped into a seat by her friend, Miri.

"How are the new recruits doing?" She asked as she grabbed a roll.

"Horrible." Miri grinned. "As usual."

"Exceptionaly horrible. One I caught slapping its horse's bum so hard I swore even the fur would turn red." Evin chipped in.

Daine shook her head. "That one won't last."

"Probably not. That's why we gotta torment them while we can." Evin grinned evily.

"Now I feel even worse for the recruit."

"Oh," Evin laughed. "You should."

Miri glanced curiously at Daine before asking, "You know that mage was looking for you? Said something about Stephan not being at the stables. When is Stephan not at the stables?"

Daine chuckled. There was something off about that man. "I don't know. I swear he can't see out of his eyes though. I went in to change some tack on Cloud and asked Stephan if he had seen the man, and he said Master Samalin had walked up and asked where Stephan was! Stephan said he was right in front of him, and the mage started to mumble on about some invisibility spell. Honestly! The man is bonkers!"

Miri giggled. "He's cute for being bonkers, though. Tell him the next time he needs to find Stephan to ask me."

Daine rolled her eyes, "Hopefully I'll never have to see the man again, fates be willing."

"Nu-uh-uh, Daine! Remember our bet?" Alanna, caked in mud and dirt, stood shaking her finger at Daine.

"Screw the bet." Daine mumbled under her breath.

"And you know why I'm here Daine? Because there's a ball in two days, and you need a new outfit!" Alanna grinned mischeviously at Daine.

Daine groaned. "Alanna! I have enough dresses for the whole of the court to be pleased with! I don't need another one!"

"You're right, you won't get a new dress. Let's go for something more Numair-attracting. Like a blue tunic, perhaps? Oh, Daine! I can see it now, you in a blue silk tunic with with and silver leggings! I'm genius!"

Daine put her head between her hands and sighed.

---

Daine had to admit though, Alanna was right, it did look good.

It was the night of the mid-summer ball and Daine was dressed in a light blue tunic with navy embroidery and nice white leggings. Her hair was done up, and there was a string of pearls wound through it. Daine had decided that she loved what ever spell Alanna had used to make her hair straight.

Finished with the little make-up she put on, she headed to the door of her bed room.

Alanna grinned when she saw Daine walk out of her bed room. This was going to be it. Daine was finally going to get a suitor that was worth her time. Silently, Alanna twisted her finger, and Daine twirled slowly in a circle.

"I love it, Daine! Absolutely, love it!" Alanna clapped her hands together gleefully. "Just one thing!"

Alanna grabbed her bag off of the top of the table in Daine's sitting room and pulled out a little box. She opened it and walked to Daine, taking care in applying berry juice to Daine's already red lips.

"Alright! Let's go!"


	3. In Which Daine Becomes Confused

**Disclaimer: It's Tamora Pierces. Everything. Because if she wants it, she can have it.**

_A/N: Mmk. I just realized how much this chapter doesn't fit the title. Oh well. I know this is a kinda weird chapter, so don't expect it to make much sense._

Numair bowed to Lady Alanna. Her fierce eyes, combined with her fiercely glitting earbobs rather demanded it, actually.

"Have you noticed my friend?" She asked suddenly.

Numair raised an eyebrow. "Whose your friend?"

"Daine Sarrasri." Alanna winked. "She pretty, isn't she?"

Numair felt his cheeks flush slightly. "I believe I have met her."

"You avoid my question." Alanna shook her head. "But no matter. Good night!"

"Good night..." Numair responded.

Numair watched her walk over to her table in a corner of the hall, try to pour herself another glass of wine, and then stopped by her husband taking the bottle away. He couldn't help being amused.

--

Daine was watching the scene from the opposite side of the room. She smiled when George grabbed the bottle of fermented grapes and grinned sweetly at his wife._ Lovebirds._

She then turned her attention to Miri and a recruit. She was, no doubt, telling her something horrible about one the occupants in the room. Hopefully the recruit knew better then to listen to Miri.

Daine continued looking around the room, ignoring the nagging knowledge that at some point of the night, Alanna would make her go talk to Master Samalin. However, while she was not making a fool out of herself to an even bigger fool, she decided she had better go get a drink on the opposite side of the room from Alanna.

When she was reaching for a drink, she was tapped on the shoulder. Her newest admirer, a clerk by the name of Avery, was holding a flower. She smiled at him and nodded graciously.

"How are you, Avery?"

"I'm alright." Avery responded. "Are you though?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Daine looked at the flower pointedly. "Is that for someone?"

Avery shifted uncomfortably. "Um, yes. It's for you."

Daine stiffled a laugh when the nervous clerk practically threw the flower at her, effectively breaking the stem in the process. She quickly nipped off the broken part with her finger nail.

"So Avery, how is your job going?" Daine asked cordially.

"Very well. They said I might get an apprentice-ship from one of the priests."

"Oh," Daine said. "I'm still on animal healing duty. Everyone thinks I have some magic with them."

Avery let a strained smile stretch across his face. "You don't, do you?"

"Of course not." Daine scoffed and took a sip of her drink.

"Okay. Well then, I think I see my family..." Avery began.

"And there's Alanna!" Daine grimaced. "I better go... uh... see her."

Alanna was infact, striding very quickly up to Daine, with a determined look on her face. Daine saw this, and, _any_ without hesitation, pushed her way through groups of nobles to the door which lead out to the palace gardens.

She had been sitting there a while, till Alanna wised up to what was going on and found her.

"Daine." Alanna frowned.

"Yes?" She smiled sweetly.

Alanna rolled her eyes. "Get in there!"

Daine stuck her lip out. "But... I think I like it here."

"Yeah?" Alanna asked.

"Yeah." Daine nodded.

Alanna humphed. "Well, I have an idea, you might like it better in there, in a very small amount of time. Catch my drift?"

Daine cocked her head. "No?"

--

"OWW!" Daine protested _very_ loudly.

"Shh." Alanna hissed and tugged Daine even harder by her ear.

"I swear you should have been born a boy..." Daine muttered, wincing as Alanna somehow found it possible to tug harder.

"I don't want to go into reasons why that would be a bad idea." Alanna grinned amusedly at Daine. "Honestly, dear."

"Maybe I could hear them if hearing was an ability I have at the moment."

"Daine, darling, do stop being a drama queen."

Daine made an incredulous sound.

Luckily, George saw his wife, detached her from Daine and then began apologizing profusely for the amount of wine Alanna had consumed that evening.

Daine smiled, waved him off, and headed back to her previous spot. It was a pretty, secluded spot; probably originaly designed as a hide-out for lovers. Vibrant, red roses bloomed explosively, and a bench carved with (what else?) roses was put in the middle of the assembly, which was, as said before, secluded and completely invisible from the path.

So, it came as a great to surprise to both lady and mage when they discovered their private spot had been found by the other.

"Master Numair." Daine curtsied.

"Lady Daine." Numair bowed with more grace then she had thought previously possible. He looked, for the first time, comfortable in his own body.

"Well," Daine backed up, slightly disconcerted, "I'll just leave this place to you."

"I wouldn't mind the company." Numair pointed out, smiling, and pulled back the foilage that hid the spot from the world, to the side. "You first."

Daine nodded, and watched Numair closely. Where had this man come from? He didn't look awkward, not at all. And he was _suave!_ Daine was at a complete loss.

Daine ducked down, and entered the small spot, taking a seat on the bench. Numair followed, and wordlessly sat down.

It went this way, and Daine was just starting to get really interested in the hem of her tunic, when Numair spoke up.

"Thank you for telling where Stefan was." He dipped his head.

Daine's eyes widened, like a child who's just found out that he didn't _have_ to ask to take cookies from the cookie jar. "But... I thought?"

"I saw him. I was ignoring him, for the exact reason a lovely little stable boy was watching me very closely. I'm not really that dense." Numair flashed a dazzling grin at Daine, who was so absorbed in her own thoughts, that she didn't notice it at all. "You see, Stefans a spy."

This took a little bit of time for Daine's mind to register, but when it did, her eyes lit up with

disbelief. "Stefan? _A what?_"

Numair nodded. "For Tortall, no worries. But so am I, and I was wanting to speak with him privately. It was a security matter, nothing-"

"Big?" Daine asked. "Master Numair, you're telling me you're a spy, my friends a spy, and you think that isn't big?! _Why are you telling me this?"_

"Because we need your help." Numair swallowed, looking suddenly uncomfortable. "In Carthak, there's a slave problem... But you knew that. What Tortall is doing is getting those people out of there, and bringing them here. That's what the new Fort Ingress was built for. For getting them identification, jobs if they want them, medical help... it's a glorified refugee camp. But Carthack can't know, so don't even think about telling!"

Daine stood up. "Look, I really don't see why you're telling me this, or think I can help. Now, I'm going to walk away and pretend this never happened."

**Reviewers!**

**First, I'm going to go down that cliche road, and tell all of you**

** how much I appreciate it. Especially since I never update. There's something nice about seeing a email with a review on it in my inbox. It makes me smile. :)**

**Overlyimaginativeor1muchtime: This is a what if story, supposing Daine was a lady. They don't know each other because they've never met before. And no, he's not crazy. .-**

**ama-chan13: Sorry. The spacing freaks out when I put it on ffn. On WordPad, it's fine, but then it screw up. And yea, I'm sorry. I got mad because it seemed like all they did was talk, till I realized I wasn't describing anything! P So, I'll try to work on that.**

**bookworm.amm: I updated! But you still may never know. xD**


	4. In Which Daine Doesn't Go

**Disclaimer: Yea, so I don't own anything Tamora Pierce does. Is it just me or is this pointless?**

**A/N: Is eccentricity a real word? I wasn't really sure. Incase it isn't it's just supposed to be somebody really different. Sorry this is short, but the next chapter is going to be jumping ahead in time a bit.**

Days trickled past, and then weeks before Numair had spoke to Daine at all. She was rather relieved. Then man was eccentricity . One minuet a savant, the next a player. Not to mention the fact he had randomly spouted imaginary statements about a supposed spy system set up in Carthak.

Daine had even looked into the matter. From all her research, she concluded Fort Ingress was most definitely for Tortallian refugees from the Tusain War. She knew Carthakis were allowed into the country only with the proper forms, and they certainly weren't being shipped there in mass!

The day he did speak to her, however, was a lovely summer one, with a breeze refreshing the tenants of the castle. It was merely a passing greeting, a quick, "Hello." Daine nodded in response and the two continued on their normal lives.

After a few more bland months going around her normal buisiness, Daine received a letter from him. It was simple, on a piece of stained parchment, like someone had knocked their coffee over it. This had, infact, happened. Numair fretted over this letter so terribly much, and then the messenger had spilled his morning drink on it when he went to the kitchens.

The letter read:

_Verildaine,_

_I'm leaving court today. For Carthak. I know you think... well, I guess I'm not supposed to mention it, hm? But I just wanted to mention to you that there's still an empty cabin on the vessel I'm leaving on. You're more then welcome to attend. Meet us at the stables if you'd like to come. We'll wait until 11 o' clock._

_Numair Samalin_

Daine didn't go.


End file.
